january thrills

knit maxi skirt

Last Autumn Jess, of Jessthetics, and I decided to trade fabrics, and I’ve made up part of the knit she send. Just a tube skirt along the lines of my denim maxi of last winter, sans pockets. The knit stretches too much.

Don’t know why, but the pattern makes me think of golf.  I’m not a golfer, and don’t know any golfers besides Ali over at Thimberlina, so can’t explain.

But this skirt does have a certain similarity to her recent make, which must have been lurking in thought whilst I was sewing my casing, which I’m not picking out as it’s waaay too difficult to do on this knit, and I never tuck in my tops. I did rather like the effect, and almost did the same thing with the hem, but decided to do something creative with the remnant from the skirt.  (And avoid having to worry about neatening the hem and painstakingly getting the hem even. Not my idea of carefree sewing on a frigid day.)

patched pot holders

In a hopeful attempt to counteract the effects of below normal cold, snow, sleet, and rain ~ and it’s barely the middle of January ~ decided it was time to dig out that Mary Englebrit fabric and do a couple small kitchen projects.

Thus, 2 faded-but-perfectly-sound, (i.e., unburnt), pot holders were recovered with bright, cheery tea pots, and the toaster has a coordinating cover. All that’s left is a food processor, and possibly enough of the two fabrics for a short apron.

toaster cover

Am slowly making my way through fitting my first Sewaholic pattern, the Renfrew top, using an orange knit from stash.  About 3 or 4 years ago I accidentally purchased 2 pieces of that knit and cut a blouse out of 1, then never sewed it because the sizing was huge, and the neckline was not as I’d thought (long story for another day).

There were 3 pieces from the abandoned blouse, and the 3 pieces of the Renfrew pattern fit therein quite easily More on that project later.

Have a note about my latest variation on that raisin spice cake recipe. I tried it last week using light olive oil. Light in flavour, rather than calories. After cooling, wrapping in foil, and storing in the frig overnight it didn’t taste half bad, and cut nicely.

Meanwhile, happy sewing and stay warm/cool!

last week’s bake, after over-nighting in the frig